Scriptures Versus The Fable Of The Revolving Earth

  The hypothesis introduced by Nicolas Copernicus that the Earth
revolves on an imaginary axis has been accepted as truth by the great
majority for centuries, it has been taught in the universities, schools,
and colleges of the world as a proven fact; often have atheists and others
used it to scorn the Divine inspiration of Scripture, and pitiful indeed
has been the camouflage adopted by the supposed supporters of Divine
Writ—who in reality generally agree with their opponents on this
subject—whereas their very attitude was and is a denial that the
Architect of the World could have been the Author of the Book they
profess to uphold. Let it be stated as clearly as possible that the
Scriptures teach that the Earth is round and suspended into space,
this was taught in the Word of God centuries before any philosopher
geographer or astronomer had discovered it, long before Homer had
described the Earth as a disk supported by pillars. Job had correctly
defined it as follows :

“ He stretcheth out the North over the empty place, and hangeth the
Earth upon nothing.”

In several places in Scripture is the Earth clearly described as
being round, for instance in Isaiah 40: 22 we read “ It is He that
sitteth upon the circle of the Earth . .” Again in Proverbs 8: 27,
it is written : “When He prepared the Heavens I (Wisdom) was there;
when He set a compass upon the face of the depth.” The Scriptures
further teach that it is the Sun that moves round the Earth, and not
the Earth round the Sun.

“ The Sun also ariseth, and the Sun goeth down, and hasteth to
his place where he arose.”

The theory that the Earth is animated with a diurnal rotation was
started with the assumption that the heavenly luminaries are solid
planets like our Earth, and not as stated by the Lord God who made
them, “ Lights ” (Genesis i : 14). This erroneous conception gave
rise to the hypothesis that it would be easier to revolve one world than
a whole heaven of Worlds, but having began their argument with a
wrong assumption, it has made them wrong all the way through.

The principal luminaries are opaque as seen during the eclipses,
and this has been thought sufficient evidence to prove that they are
Worlds like unto our own, but the want of transparency is by no means
a proof of weight, a cloud, although opaque, is nevertheless lighter
than the air.

The results of recent research prove that the heavenly luminaries
are not Worlds, but lights, and should cause all men who have been
led to accept as proven Copernicus’ theory of the motions of the Earth,
to reconsider this subject. Professor H. H. Turner, of Oxford, made
the following statement regarding observations carried out on the
brightest Star in the constellation of Orion: “ The most exciting
discovery as a result of measuring this Star in the winter of 1920, and
1921, and 1922 is that the diameter is changing and it looks as if the
Star is palpitating as a heart does.” Which is precisely what a light
would do, and not what a body like our Earth could ever possibly do.
It is now acknowledged, and has long been acknowledged that
Newton was entirely wrong in his theory of light. “ Light,” according
to modem definition, “ is the result of force causing the waves of
ether to vibrate with an almost infinite rapidity. How great that force
is can be measured by the fact that light travels round the world eight
times in a single second.” This again explains the “ infinite rapidity ”
with which the “ Lights ” (Gen. i : 14) seen in the Heavens travel
round the Earth.

. . Swift is the Sun in his course, for he compasseth the
Heavens round about, and fetcheth his course again to his own
place in one day.” (i. Esdras, 4 : 34).

Claudius Ptolemy, the great astronomer, had the advantage over
Copernicus in that he was a geographer as well as an astronomer,
whereas the latter held some dignities in the cathedral of Thorn in
Prussia. As a geographer Ptolemy knew the absolute importance of
the stability of the four cardinal points, outside of which topography
and accurate orientation are an impossibility. Now the four cardinal
points are fixed points in the sky, as acknowledged from time
immemorial, hence we are able, by them, to plot correctly any given
point on the Earth.

Logically it would be impossible, if the Earth revolved, to make
use of the cardinal points as fixed points in the sky, for the relation of
any given place in the rotating Earth toward them must continually
change. It would be like attempting to plot a point within a fast
running wheel of a motor car in relation to a fixed spot outside.
The force of this argument is sometimes evaded by saying that
the cardinal points of the compass are imaginary points, but that
will never do. The most exacting sciences are based upon the four
points of the compass, such as the science of survey, cartography,
and, of course, navigation. Millions have trusted their lives upon
this reality of the four cardinal points. When the skies are covered
the captain at sea has only his compass and his chart to guide him, and
the life of one and all on board depends upon the points of the compass
being a verity.

“ The North and the South Thou hast created them.”
Psalm, 89; 12.

Everything in the Tabernacle built by Moses was carefully
orientated as also the Temple erected by Solomon, and all its ornaments.
And he (Solomon) made a molten sea, ten cubits from one brim to
another, it was round all about . . . It stood upon twelve oxen, three
looking toward the North, and three looking toward the West, and three
looking toward the South, and three looking toward the East . .”
(i. Kings, 7; 23, 25.)

The Great Pyramid of Ghizeh also demonstrates how careful
the ancients were in the orientation of their buildings, and wherever
these are in existence they show no deviation from their original
orientation, which fact alone proves that the Earth is not animated
with any motion at all.

“ The World also is stablished, that it cannot be moved.”
Psalm, 93 : I.

It is claimed that the revolutions of the Earth cause the Sun and
constellations to be overhead in different places of the Earth at times
worked out in nautical almanacs and used by navigators to determine
their bearings, but the same calculations will apply to the rising and
setting of the heavenly luminaries. Whether A moves from B, or
B from A, the effect can be the same.

The Phoenicians indeed made extensive use of the stars in
navigation, and their daring seamanship and skill can be measured
by the fact that they spanned the seas as far as Britain to the West, and
across the broad Pacific to the American continent to the East, and
they believed in the rising and setting of the stars. Mr. J. W. Perry
informs us that only one pearl-field in the whole World (the West
Australian site at Broom) escaped the vigilance and accurate knowledge
of the ancients.

Let us examine the so-called experiments which have been
instrumental in causing men to reject the statements of God and the
evidence of their own senses in order to uphold the imagination of
Copernicus.

Newton maintained that it was possible to prove the rotation of
the Earth by the means of balls dropped from a height to the ground,
he claimed that the said balls would it deviate Westward, but would
fall a little to the Eastward of a pumbline, about half an inch, he
thought, at the height of three hundred feet. The reason he gave
is this ; “ Since the top of the tower is at a greater distance from the
axis of the Earth than its base, the centrifugal force must be greater
at the former point than at the latter; the ball, in falling does not
lose its impulse, and therefore advances before its plumbline, which
strikes the foot of the tower, since it has a less impulse Eastward.”
Experiments were carried out to test this theory on January 14, 1680
by Robert Hooke in the presence of a committee appointed for the
purpose, when he tried to prove the rotation of the Earth by dropping
balls from a height of 160 feet. The results were considered so
unsatisfactory that they were not even mentioned in the Philosophical
Transactions and were entirely forgotten.

One hundred and twelve years later, a young geometrician in
Bologna, Guglielmini, tried the same experiments from the Tower
Degli Asinelli, in that city, at a height of 240 feet. These experiments
also failed to prove any movement of the Earth.
Benzenberg, a German, performed similar experiments in 1804,
from the steeple of the church of St. Michael, in Hamburg. He let
fall 30 balls, from the height of 235 feet; the balls deviated from the
perpendicular four lines Eastward and line Southward according
to the direction of the wind. This was not considered satisfactory

Benzenberg repeated these experiments in 1805, in a coalpit, at
Schlebusch, at the height of 260 feet: and according to the fall of these
balls, dropped in a black coalpit, which balls were claimed to have
fallen five lines Eastward, Laplace, the French astronomer and atheist,
calculated that the chances are 8,000 to 1 that the Earth turns round
on its axis. Like the oracle of Delphi the answer was given from the
bowels of the Earth, it would not speak from above the ground in the
three previous trials.

Seeing that this statement of Laplace was, so to speak, the
ex cathedra utterance of “ science ” on this subject, it is interesting
to note what Napoleon, who had made him minister of the interior,
said of him. “A geometrician of the first rank,” says the emperor,
“ he did not reach mediocrity as a statesman. From the first, the
consuls became sensible thattheyhadmadea mistake in his appointment.
He never viewed any subject in its true light; he was always occupied
with subtilties; his notions were all problematic . . . ”
Yet Protestants, who reject the infallibility of the Popes with
scorn, do nevertheless, accept the infallibility of such men as these
with fervour.

But let us assume that the experiments at Schlebusch proved
what is claimed for them, then the same principle there evolved must
apply to all other bodies that are independent of the Earth. An
aeroplane in flight is as much independent of the Earth as the aforesaid
dropping balls, and if these have a speed differing from, and
independent of the supposed speed of the Earth, then the same
characteristic must distinguish the aircraft; its movement also should
be independent of that of the Earth; in which case, such an
aeroplane travelling Westward to America from England should have
the full benefit of America rotating Eastward, and both the continent
of America and the aeroplane should meet, one above the other, in
about four hours. This statement and the balls dropped by
Benzenberg stand or fall together.

But how many are there among those who teach this fable as
truth, that have the courage of their convictions to the extent of
undertaking this flight, with say five hours supply of petrol ?
Ptolemy has indeed advanced similar arguments to prove the
impossibility of the rotation of the Earth, and to parry these they
have been obliged to imagine that the air participates in this motion.
If this were the case, the air would obviously travel in one direction,
viz., the supposed direction of the Earth, how could any aircraft
travel against such a furious blast ? How could such an accomplished
feat as sky-writing be carried out in such a tornado ?
Ptolemy shows very ingeniously that the Earth must be at the
centre of the celestial sphere. He proves that unless this were the
case, each star would not move with the absolute uniformity which
does characterise it. He shows also that the Earth could not be
animated by any movement of transition. “ The Earth,” argued
Ptolemy, “ lies at the centre of the celestial sphere. If the Earth were
to be endowed with movement, it would not lie always at this point,
it must therefore shift to some other part of the sphere. The move-
ments of the stars, however, preclude this, and therefore the Earth
must be as devoid of any movement of translaiton as it is of
rotation.”